Revelation, 25
December 1832 [D&C 87]

behold the southern states shall be
divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on
other Nations even the Nation of Great
Britian as it is called4

In
the wake of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the
United States continued to view Britain as
both a political and economic rival in the Western Hemisphere. (Haynes, Unfinished
Revolution, 8–9.)

Haynes, Sam W. Unfinished Revolution: The Early
American Republic in a British World. Charlottesville: University of
Virginia Press, 2010.

and they shall also call upon other
Nations in order to defend themselves against other Nations and thus
war shall be poured out upon all Nations and it shall come to pass
after many days Slaves shall rise up against there Masters5

Brigham
Young, who was not present when the
revelation was dictated, claimed in 1860
that the revelation was the result of “serious reflections” by “the brethren”
about “African slavery on this continent” and “the slavery of children [of] men
throughout the world.” “After much deliberation and reflection etc. and being
tolerably well acquainted with the customs of the north and south,” he
continued, “the Lord gave a revelation concerning slavery.” In
August 1831, a slave named Nat Turner led a
rebellion in southeastern Virginia that resulted in the deaths of approximately
sixty white people and the execution of twenty-one black people (including
Turner). Many white Virginians and other white Southerners feared that further
rebellions would follow. (Brigham Young, Discourse, 20 May 1860, in George
D. Watt, Discourse Shorthand Notes, 20 May 1860, George D. Watt, Papers, as
transcribed by LaJean Purcell Carruth,
copy in editors’ possession;
Oates, Fires of
Jubilee, 125–126.)

who shall be Martialed and
disaplined for war and it shall come to pass also that the remnants
who are left of the land will martial themselves also and shall become
exceding angry and shall vex the
Gentiles

Those who were not members of the House of Israel. More specifically, members of the church identified gentiles as those whose lineage was not of the Jews or Lamanites (understood to be the American Indians in JS’s day). Certain prophecies indicated that ...

“Remnants” refers to the
scattered descendants of ancient Israelites still found on the earth. The Book
of Mormon uses the singular “remnant” to refer specifically to descendants of
the family of Lehi but the plural “remnants” when discussing all descendants of
Israel scattered throughout the world. A letter from
JS to
N.
C. Saxton, editor of the American Revivalist, and Rochester
Observer, written just ten days after this
revelation, used “remnants” in a similar
way. In that letter, JS declared that God would “recover the remnants of his
people which have been left from Assyria, and from Egypt and from Pathros
&.c. and from the Islands of the sea.” (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 31, 117, 23, 496–497 [1
Nephi 13:34; 2 Nephi 30:3; 1 Nephi 10:14; 3 Nephi 20:10–23];
Letter to N. C.
Saxton, 4 Jan. 1833; see also
Ashurst-McGee, “Zion Rising,”
263–264.)

and thus with the sword and by bloodshed the
inhabitants of the earth shall mourn and with famine and plague, and
Earthquake and the thunder of heaven and the fierce and vivid
lightning also shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the
wrath and indignation and chastning hand of an Almighty God untill the
consumption
decreed7

This theme from the book of
Revelation also appears in the Book of Mormon. (See, for example, Revelation
6:10; 16:1–6; and Book of
Mormon, 1830 ed., 106, 473, 534 [2 Nephi 26:3; 3 Nephi 9:11; Mormon
8:27].)

The Book of Mormon identified a seer as a “revelator, and a prophet also,” specifying, however, that a seer was “greater than a prophet.” A seer could “know of things which has past, and also of things which is to come.” The work of a seer included translation...

behold the southern states shall be
divided against the Northern States, and the Southern States will call on
other [Nations]3

TEXT: A
later redaction in the handwriting of
Frederick G. Williams inserts “Nations” at
this point. All other early manuscript versions have “nations” here, suggesting
that “Nations” was likely part of the original inscription. (See,
for example, Gilbert,
Notebook, [109].)

In
the wake of the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, the
United States continued to view Britain as
both a political and economic rival in the Western Hemisphere. (Haynes, Unfinished
Revolution, 8–9.)

Haynes, Sam W. Unfinished Revolution: The Early
American Republic in a British World. Charlottesville: University of
Virginia Press, 2010.

and they shall also call upon other
Nations in order to defend themselves against other Nations and thus
war shall be poured out upon all Nations and it shall come to pass
after many days Slaves shall rise up against there Masters5

Brigham
Young, who was not present when the
revelation was dictated, claimed in 1860
that the revelation was the result of “serious reflections” by “the brethren”
about “African slavery on this continent” and “the slavery of children [of] men
throughout the world.” “After much deliberation and reflection etc. and being
tolerably well acquainted with the customs of the north and south,” he
continued, “the Lord gave a revelation concerning slavery.” In
August 1831, a slave named Nat Turner led a
rebellion in southeastern Virginia that resulted in the deaths of approximately
sixty white people and the execution of twenty-one black people (including
Turner). Many white Virginians and other white Southerners feared that further
rebellions would follow. (Brigham Young, Discourse, 20 May 1860, in George
D. Watt, Discourse Shorthand Notes, 20 May 1860, George D. Watt, Papers, as
transcribed by LaJean Purcell Carruth,
copy in editors’ possession;
Oates, Fires of
Jubilee, 125–126.)

who shall be Martialed and
disaplined for war and it shall come to pass also that the remnants
who are left of the land will martial themselves also and shall become
exceding angry and shall vex the
Gentiles

Those who were not members of the House of Israel. More specifically, members of the church identified gentiles as those whose lineage was not of the Jews or Lamanites (understood to be the American Indians in JS’s day). Certain prophecies indicated that ...

“Remnants” refers to the
scattered descendants of ancient Israelites still found on the earth. The Book
of Mormon uses the singular “remnant” to refer specifically to descendants of
the family of Lehi but the plural “remnants” when discussing all descendants of
Israel scattered throughout the world. A letter from
JS to
N.
C. Saxton, editor of the American Revivalist, and Rochester
Observer, written just ten days after this
revelation, used “remnants” in a similar
way. In that letter, JS declared that God would “recover the remnants of his
people which have been left from Assyria, and from Egypt and from Pathros
&.c. and from the Islands of the sea.” (Book of Mormon, 1830 ed., 31, 117, 23, 496–497 [1
Nephi 13:34; 2 Nephi 30:3; 1 Nephi 10:14; 3 Nephi 20:10–23];
Letter to N. C.
Saxton, 4 Jan. 1833; see also
Ashurst-McGee, “Zion Rising,”
263–264.)

and thus with the sword and by bloodshed the
inhabitants of the earth shall mourn and with famine and plague, and
Earthquake and the thunder of heaven and the fierce and vivid
lightning also shall the inhabitants of the earth be made to feel the
wrath and indignation and chastning hand of an Almighty God untill the
consumption decribed
decreed7

This theme from the book of
Revelation also appears in the Book of Mormon. (See, for example, Revelation
6:10; 16:1–6; and Book of
Mormon, 1830 ed., 106, 473, 534 [2 Nephi 26:3; 3 Nephi 9:11; Mormon
8:27].)

The Book of Mormon identified a seer as a “revelator, and a prophet also,” specifying, however, that a seer was “greater than a prophet.” A seer could “know of things which has past, and also of things which is to come.” The work of a seer included translation...

On Christmas Day,
25 December 1832,
JS dictated this
revelation warning of the outbreak of war
across all nations, beginning in South Carolina.
Remarking on the context of this revelation, a later JS history states:
“Appearances of troubles among the nations, became more visible, this season,
than they had previously done, since the church began her journey out of the
wilderness.”1

JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856.
Vols. A-1–F-1 (original),
A-2–E-2 (fair
copy).
CHL. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death
of Joseph Smith.

The Painesville Telegraph of 21
December 1832 highlighted some of these problems. It contained an
article titled “Revenge and Magnanimity. A Tale of the Cholera” about the
worldwide cholera epidemic, as well as information about a plague in India that
was killing 150 to 200 people a day.2

The
newspaper also included extensive coverage of the passage of a resolution by a
Nullification Convention held in November in
South Carolina. This resolution declared the federal tariff acts of
1828 and 1832, which
levied high duties against imports, “null and void” in the state. Many South
Carolina residents believed the acts were passed solely to protect northern
manufacturing at the expense of the South. Not only did South Carolinians claim
the right to nullify the law, they also stated their willingness to “organize a
separate Government” should the federal government try to enforce the tariffs
in the state. The governor called for two thousand men to form a militia “for
the defence of Charleston and its dependencies.”3

Located on Grand River twelve miles northeast of Kirtland. Created and settled, 1800. Originally named Champion. Flourished economically from harbor on Lake Erie and as major route of overland travel for western emigration. Included Painesville village; laid...

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...

,
Ohio, it is probable that JS saw or heard about the articles in the 21 December
Telegraph within a day or so. These developments troubled JS,
who saw in them the threat of the “immediate dissolution” of the
United States

North American constitutional republic. Constitution ratified, 17 Sept. 1787. Population in 1805 about 6,000,000; in 1830 about 13,000,000; and in 1844 about 20,000,000. Louisiana Purchase, 1803, doubled size of U.S. Consisted of seventeen states at time ...

JS History / Smith, Joseph, et al. History, 1838–1856.
Vols. A-1–F-1 (original),
A-2–E-2 (fair
copy).
CHL. The history for the period after 5 Aug. 1838 was composed after the death
of Joseph Smith.

Indeed, the 25 December revelation predicted
that rebellion on the part of South Carolina would lead not only to civil war
and war among nations but also to slave rebellions and an uprising of remnants
of the house of Israel. This violence, combined with plague and other natural
disasters, would ultimately lead to the “full end of all Nations.” Using
millenarian language, the revelation cast such events as portents of the return
of Jesus Christ to the earth.6

Although it is unlikely that
William W. Phelps saw this
revelation before publishing the
January 1833 issue of The Evening and
the Morning Star, that issue contained an article titled “Signs of the
Times.” Some of the signs Phelps listed included the trouble in
South Carolina and the cholera epidemic. “Such strange
movements of men; such dreadful sickness; oh! such fearful looking for the
wrath of God to be poured out upon this generation,” Phelps declared, “ought to
convince every man in the world, that the end is near; that the harvest is
ripe, and that the angels are reaping down the earth!” (“Signs of the Times,” The Evening and the
Morning Star, Jan. 1833, [6].)

wrote the
revelation as
JS dictated it, but the original manuscript is no
longer extant. Probably between late January and late February 1833, Williams copied
the revelation into Revelation Book 2, titling it “Prophecy given
Dec 25— 1832 concerning concerning the wars”
in that book’s index.7

See Revelation Book 2,
Index, [1]. Other manuscript copies of the
revelation were also made around that same
time, including one by
John
Whitmer in Revelation Book 1. The revelation was not published in the
1835 or 1844 editions
of the
Doctrine and Covenants, in part, according
to Brigham Young, because “it was not wisdom to put that
. . . in private escritoire.” In 1851,
Franklin D. Richards published the
revelation in
England in a pamphlet titled The
Pearl of Great Price: Being a Choice Selection from the Revelations,
Translations, and Narrations of Joseph Smith, First Prophet, Seer, and
Revelator to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. (Revelation Book 1,
p. 157;
Brigham Young, Discourse, 20
May 1860, in George D. Watt, Discourse Shorthand Notes, 20 May 1860, George D.
Watt, Papers, as transcribed by LaJean Purcell Carruth, copy in editors’
possession; “A Mormon
Prophecy,” Philadelphia Sunday Mercury, 5 May 1861, [2];
see also Crawley,
Descriptive Bibliography,
2:234–238.)

Revelation Book 1 / “A Book of Commandments and Revelations of the Lord Given
to Joseph the Seer and Others by the Inspiration of God and Gift and Power of
the Holy Ghost Which Beareth Re[c]ord of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost
Which Is One God Infinite and Eternal World without End Amen,” 1831–1835. CHL.

Located ten miles south of Lake Erie. Settled by 1811. Organized by 1818. Population in 1830 about 55 Latter-day Saints and 1,000 others; in 1838 about 2,000 Saints and 1,200 others; in 1839 about 100 Saints and 1,500 others. Mormon missionaries visited township...